PERGAMUM FETED ANTINOUS AND HADRIAN AS THE NEW GANYMEDE AND JUPITER

ANTINOUS and Hadrian were welcomed as the new Ganymede and Zeus/Jupiter when they arrived in the fabulous city of Pergamum in Asia Minor in the spring of 129 AD.

The people of Pergamum having once been firmly under the control of the Persian Empire, and then living under the domination of the Hellenistic kings of the Attalid Dynasty, were accustomed to worshipping their rulers as gods, and it is believed that the province of Asia is the birthplace of the Cult of the Emperors.

Hadrian was declared and openly worshipped as a living god by the residents, an honor that he did not refuse. Antinous being his chosen favorite was also viewed with interest, and began to take his place here as the Divine consort, as the Ganymede, who was a local deity.

When Alexander the Great died, one of his generals, named Lysimachus, made Pergamum his capital. The Kingdom of Pergamum, under the Attalid Kings was to become the strongest power in Asia Minor for the centuries preceding conquest by Rome.

It remained a grand and wealthy city throughout Roman times, and was mentioned in the Christian Book of Revelation as one of the Seven Churches of the world.

The main temple of Pergamum was dedicated to Zeus, and was richly ornamented by a frieze depicting the war between the Olympic gods and the Titans. Portions of that frieze are now on permanent exhibit at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Hadrian built a magnificent Temple to the Divine Trajan, his Father, and so it is in this vein that we consecrate the visitation of Hadrian and Antinous to Zeus, as the spirit of the Divine Emperors, and as the conqueror of Titanic chaos.

We in the Religion of Antinous remember the gentle love of Hadrian for his beautiful Antinous in an age when the virtues of Hellenism and divine order prevailed over the chaos of fear and rage and the desire to destroy.